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Apple, on the other hand, is distinctly upbeat, emphasising the strengths of its offering compared to those of its rivals.

Microsoft's general manager, Windows Digital Media Division, Dave Fester, claimed that the fact that the iTunes Music Store is a closed system - restricting iPod owners to buying music from iTMS and nowhere else - will not appeal to Windows users.

They expect, he said presumably with a straight face, 'choice in music services, choice in devices.... If you use Apple's music store along with iTunes, you don't have the ability of using the over 40 different Windows Media-compatible portable music players.'

However, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller, explained that the close integration of the iPod with iTMS is key to the latter's success.

'The iPod makes money,' he told News.com. 'The iTunes Music Store doesn't.' Given that Apple currently claims around 70 per cent market share, this doesn't bode well for rival services that

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don't have portable player sales to sustain them.

'Just trying to have a business around downloadable music would be tough,' said Schiller. A point on which Microsoft chairman Bill Gates agrees, having told an analysts' meeting in July that, ' It's maybe a feature your platform should offer, but it's not like you're going to make some markup.'

Napster, which seems the most likely of the rival services to succeed, will have an accompanying player from Samsung, but it is safe to say that unlike the iPod, Samsung's Yepp player has yet to make much of an impression. That of course will change, if Napster, which relaunches on 29 October, is as successful as expected.

Windows users' reaction to iTunes has, on the whole, been very good, Apple has said. Nonetheless a number of Windows 2000 Professional users have reported significant problems - as Apple's discussion boards show - that Apple is looking into.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, told Newsweek that the company is 'trying to be nice to the Windows world.'

'We turned out one of the best products on Windows that's ever been made.'

He also suggested that music downloads is a market Microsoft may well decide not to enter. 'They don't compete with eBay, they don't compete with Amazon, they don't compete with a lot of people. Maybe if we're lucky Apple can be the Amazon or eBay of downloaded music.'

He also said that Apple would love to be able to introduce a $100 iPod. 'We just don't know how to do it right now. We're constantly trying to make cheaper iPods.'